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Mike Waters' blog: 3 April 2014 - Always room to improve
Date: 03 April 2014
There are some things that always leave room for improvement.
It doesn't matter how much effort you put in, more resource is always needed. It strikes me that road safety is one such area: an area where we should celebrate huge improvements in recent years but also one where there is work to be done.
The latest figures from the Department for Transport (year ending September 2013) show that in Great Britain 1,730 people were killed in road accidents.
The positive news is that this represents a 2% drop compared to the year before. And if you factor in people who were seriously injured, casualties fell to 23,380, a 6% decrease versus the previous year.
Advances in vehicle technology, awareness campaigns, Government policy and better roads all contribute to this improvement, despite the fact that there are more vehicles on the road than ever before.
However, nearly 2,000 people killed every year is way too many and despite the trend being a good one is not a statistic that we should accept.
Usually these deaths are caused by human error, something that is backed up time and time again by behavioural research.
A recent survey said 40% of drivers admitted they don't always concentrate when driving.
Reasons include daydreaming, stress, thinking about what you will be doing when you arrive and thinking about family, friends and personal relationships.
Driving is dangerous, and the consequences of poor behaviour or bad decision-making can be catastrophic.
The good news is that to some extent we have our destiny in our own hands. The way that we act and the decisions that we take can positively impact our road risk and that of road users around us.
Something that should be a big motivation to us all and a great opportunity to further improve the statistics.
